Good Design vs. Bad Design

One bad design that I have noticed through the years are the entrance door card-readers for Bank atms. When the user walks up to enter the atm room, there is a slots to insert your atm card. This is awkward to use because the design itself does not indicate how to use it. The user can figure out to put the card into the slot, but one does not know how far to insert the card and what orientation the card should be in. I've seen many encounters of users, including myself, struggling to figure out the orientation. The design does clearly indicate that the card should be insert with the thinnest width and the shortest height. But even with this much information, there are still 4 optional positions of orientation. Typically there is a arrow pointing to the corner that the magnetic stripe should align with. However, at most atms the sticker has worn off the metal scanner. Therefore the user has to try all 4 options until the green light blinks and the door is unlocked.

I find this design to be annoying, especially during bad weather when it's hard to handle the card, insert properly, wait for green light, and then open the door before the unlocking times out.

A better option would be card scanners that one uses on cash-registers or even at Bobst library entrance gates. This design is better than the atm door reader, because there is only two options for swiping the card. The user knows that the card-reader needs to detect the magnetic stripe to get a reading thus clearance for entry. By have a swiping position, instead of inserting, the user knows that the magnetic strip needs to facing down to go through the reader. This leaves only left or right side of the card as a possible position. Thus it is easier for the user to have the card in hand with the magnetic strip on the bottom portion of the card, then swipe. If the reader didn't get a read simply flip the card so the magnetic strip is facing the other direction and swipe. Thus gaining access quickly by having only 2 options and having the two positions be a quick adjustment from a simple flip of the wrist.